Reality Sucks
by The Albino Umbreon
Summary: Cloud lives in the human world, but he feels like he belongs somewhere else. One day, he and his friends do something and the unexpected happens, he's in the world of Pokémon! How will things turn out in this messed up adventure? Rated T for mild violence and some language, may change to M. Lots of OCs. Note: Contains half-breeds (gijinkas) in this story.
1. That's What I Hoped For

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, sadly, nor will I ever.

* * *

Chapter 1-That's What I Hoped For

Cloud never really got along with his fellow peers, they always found something to make fun of him for. For example, not liking his real name and calling himself Cloud. Why? Well, he never really liked his real name, he even went as far to change his name legally. Cloud also yearns for a better life, in a different world and perspective. But what if his dreams came true? How would he react?

~New York, NY-Cloud's "House"~

"Cloud! Dinner time!" Jay, Cloud's only friend, yelled from the kitchen. Jay, like Cloud, was picked on by his peers. Jay had hair that resembled a lion's mane, except it was a dark red color. He had stunning red eyes, with unusual gold and black specks. Sporting a royal blue tee, black jeans with it torn in some places, a white belt with a star as the belt buckle, and black skater shoes with red laces and blue stripes. Jay is 13, and lives with Cloud in an abandoned house with some strays.

"I'll be there in a sec!" Cloud responded, shuffling about in his and Jay's room. After a minute he came out with Rin, his black and white cat, on his shoulder. Rin was a stray that Cloud found as a kitten, since then Rin had grown attached to Cloud.

"Sorry, Rin wouldn't give me back my bandana." Cloud had his neon blue bandana in his hand, it looked a little torn.

'Sorry for trying to have a little fun.' Rin responded in a sarcastic tone, but it fell on deaf ears, mostly because Jay and Cloud don't understand him. Cloud put the bandana back on, completing his outfit. Cloud had short and fluffy white hair, it covered up most of the bandana, and his ears. He also had black headphones with a green dragon-like serpent on one side and a pink feline creature on the other. He had gray eyes, with blue and white specks in them. Cloud had a white graphic T-shirt on that had a purple game controller on it, faded black jeans that were stained with white paint on the left knee, blue belt that had a dragon belt buckle on it, and gray skater shoes that had black laces and darker gray stripes. Cloud was 13 as well, and is a couple months younger than Jay.

When compared to other people, Jay and Cloud look more filthy and grubby at first since they are technically homeless. Cloud ran away from home, and Jay ran away from the orphanage he was staying at. They were both abused which became the main reason they stick together. Jay became protective of their makeshift family, and has the will to become stronger for his family.

"Can of beans again?" Cloud asked, a little bored.

"Nope," Jay answered, a little excited. "Tonight, *pausing for dramatic effect* we are going to eat some chicken stir fry!"

"Wha? How?" Cloud asked, clearly confused as Jay didn't leave today.

"Well, some mysterious person gave me a recipe and some ingredients to make stir fry. She didn't mention a name, but knocked on the door and gave me the stuff on the house!"

"And you just accepted it?!" Jay flinched, Cloud can be pretty scary when he's mad.

A little hesitantly, Jay began speaking. "Well, yes, but she seemed trustworthy!" Jay thought back, the lady was nice, and she had a _very_ foreign way of speaking, maybe it wasn't a good idea to trust her.

"You of all people should know to trust no one! What was going through your head?" At Cloud's words Jay looked down in shame, it was the rule on the street, **trust no one, **no matter how trusting they seem.

"Well, we got nothing to lose anyway, so can we at least give it a shot?" Jay gave the puppy dog eyes, Cloud's arch-enemy.

"Argh, fine." Cloud said in submission. "But, if you do something like this please consult me or Rin first. I may be younger than you, but if I can't then Rin can definitely knock some sense into you." Cloud shuddered, thinking about Rin's deadly claws.

Jay lightened up at that, but darkened again at the last part. Then enthusiastically yelled, "Okay let's dig in!"

Jay, Cloud, and Rin started scarfing down the food, being the best thing they have ever had throughout their days. Little did they know the meal was going to change their lives for the worst. They then went to sleep, not knowing what was ahead of them. Cloud, half asleep, stirred a bit then saw something strange.

"Um, Jay?" Jay groggily answered,

"Yeah Cloud?"

"Why are we- you know what never mind."

"Hmm, okay. Remember, I'm there for you pal, no matter what. You can tell me anything, we are family." Cloud and Jay went back to sleep, little did they know they were on their way to another world only seen through a 2D screen.

* * *

~Unknown~

"*Yawns* Hmm? Where are we? Where's Jay?" Cloud groaned, his body felt like it just got struck by lightning. Rin was right beside him, stirring a bit since Cloud got up.

'Jeez, what is it that you had to wake up for?' Looking up his eyes widened. 'You know what, never mind.' What he saw wasn't an illusion, they were surrounded by weird animals. Cloud, however just looked at Rin with a shocked expression.

"Hey Rin, what happened to you?" A little hesitantly, Rin looked at himself, he now had blue fur with some white streaks, black fur around his waist, and a star shaped tail.

'Holy shit, I look like them!' Rin exclaimed, using his blue paw to point at the other creatures, except they didn't have white streaks. Cloud followed his paw, not liking the outcome. The creature leaped at Cloud, Rin intercepted the attack with his own tackle. The creature fell to the ground, the others were prepared to charge, but the first one stopped them.

'What business do you have in our territory?' Rin responded,

'We aren't from around here, you see we came from a different world' He added under his breath, 'And we most likely won't be going back, even if we could' The leader seemed to except this, weirder things have happened.

Cloud was shocked, he could understand them. But how? Cloud looked at himself to see if he had changed, he felt that he had a blue tail blue ears and fangs, but nothing else. Cloud thought, _thank the lord I'm in one piece and have all of my clothes_. **_Why, you're welcome._** Cloud jumped, where did that voice come from? The feminine voice replied, **_I'm Arceus young Cloud, and you have arrived here as an answer to your wish. I had to make some changes to your DNA, you are a Mew gijinka. I had to do it because the council wouldn't allow a human from another universe to arrive here, imagine their surprise when they find out what I did to you and your friend, Rin. Your friend Jay couldn't make it, he made it a little difficult. He is now a multiverse traveler but he agreed to help around a bit with other problematic universes. Jay didn't have a choice on his part. He is sorry about letting this happen, and he told me to give you his regards. I'm sorry about that, I know you meant a lot to each other. Anyway, right now you are in the world of Pokemon, they are the creatures that inhabit this world. Right now you are in the safari zone in Kanto. Go look for Pallet Town or Professor Oak, he will tell you more. Cloud, we shall talk later. Remember the name Rayquaza, for he shall help you._ **Cloud was beyond confused, it all happened too fast.

Meanwhile, Rin was having a conversation with the lead creature, which he found out was called a Shinx.

'What's your name? Mine's Rin.'

'Hiro. What is with your fur pattern, it's different from ours.'

'I don't know, I guess it has to do with me being from another world. My friend and I arrived here, for what I don't know.'

'That's vague, but it will have to do. What do you plan to do now?'

'I don't know, but whatever Cloud does I'm behind him all the way, that's what friends are for.'

'If you don't mind me asking, why do you stick around this guy, are you his Pokemon that the pokeball has hypnotized?'

'First off, he saved me from death as a kit, stuck around him ever since. Secondly, what's a pokeball?'

'It's usually a red and white ball that captures Pokemon like you and I.'

'What's a Pokemon?'

'They are the different creatures that inhabit this world. Usually they stick to one region, but in safari zones like this one, you can find Pokemon from different regions in the zones. There a lot of regions, but the six main ones are Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos. We are currently in Kanto. Our kind come from Sinnoh.'

'Are there rarities in Pokemon?'

'Depends where you are, but there are the legendaries. They are all in a council, plus I here rumors that their is at least more than one of them, except Arceus, our God. No one knows if they have genders, but some do for sure.'

'This is some messed up world, it's all too confusing.'

'Was your world perfect?'

'I wouldn't say that. I'd say it's more messed up than yours could ever be, but that's just me.'

"Rin! We should probably get going, and stay low." Hiro turned to Cloud and was shocked, a Mew gijinka, and it's a shiny as well. Hiro shook his head trying to relieve some shock. Hiro turned to face both of them and asked a question.

'Where you heading? I bet Abra could take you there.'

"Cool, where is he?"

'He resides in the cave over to the east. I'm sure you'll find him in no time, the cave sticks right out.'

'You know Hiro, you're wise beyond your years, friends?' Rin stuck his paw out, Hiro accepted it, smiling.

'Friends.'

With that, Cloud and Rin were on their way towards the cave that Hiro mentioned. It didn't take them that long, but eventually they found the right cave.

'Hellooo, anyone home?'

'What do you want, you annoying little Shinx?' This struck a cord with Rin, as he started off on a ranting rampage.

'You know what? No. I'm going to be treated with respect. I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking they're better than me and my,' Rin looks at Cloud, then shakes his head. 'Definitely weird friend here. So I'm going to ask a question, and I'm going to get an answer. Would you or, one of your friends, give my friend and I a lift to Pallet Town?' Cloud scratches the back of his head.

The Abra seemed taken aback. 'Very well but on one condition, you have to battle me.' Cloud and Rin seemed confused, is that how things are settled here, or is this Abra just a tough guy? 'Well? I'm waiting, unless you don't want that lift...'

'Alright I'll fight you, what're the rules?' The Abra seemed confused.

'Standard Pokémon battle rules of course, there aren't really that many restrictions for a wild Pokémon battle.' Rin was still confused, but he'll learn along the way.

The Abra started by teleporting towards Rin and using confusion. Rin was dazed for a second, but soon came back to reality. Seeing his chance he bit the Abra, obviously causing a lot of damage. Rin let his instincts kick in and charged towards the Abra, his jaw slightly parted with cold, ice-like air coming out of it, and bit him, _hard._ The Abra screeched in pain and fell over with swirls for eyes. Rin backed away, thinking he had gone too far.

"Don't worry, he's gonna be fine. You just knocked him out, that's all." Rin and Cloud watched the Abra get up. Abra turned to them and spoke in a defeated tone.

'You are a really tough Shinx, I didn't know you had learned **Bite** and **Ice Fang**.'

'All of it just came to me really, I had no idea what I was doing.'

'Well, keep doing what you're doing, you'll go far if you do. So trust your instincts.'

'Well I've been doing that since I was kit so it shouldn't be that hard. Do you think you could give us that lift now?' At first the Abra was confused then remembered the agreement.

'Yeah of course! It's the least I could do for you and your friend. Where did you need to go?'

"Pallet, and thank you for doing this, you don't know how much this means to us, we need to stay low."

'No problem, but word to the wise, you might want to hide the ears and tail, people will freak.' Cloud forgot about that, so he hid the tail under his shirt and flattened his ears to his head so they blended in with the bandana.

"Gonna need to work on that." They bursted out laughing at Cloud's antics. Abra then started glowing a faint blue.

'Everyone hold hands/paws, we're about to teleport a long distance. Oh, and don't worry if you feel nauseous, the feeling goes away after a couple minutes.' They started to all glow bright, and then they up and disappeared.

* * *

~Pallet Town-Forest Edge~

All three figures appeared, the light dimmed down and Abra was seen panting.

'This is the closest I could take you, I hope your adventure goes well.'

"Thank you again, I don't know what could've happened to us if you didn't help us."

'It's no problem, I like to help people.' Cloud and Rin waved goodbye to Abra, Rin then called out.

'Can we get your name before you go?' Abra smirked and said right before disappearing.

'Zam' Then he vanished, presumably going back to the safari zone. Cloud turned to Rin.

"Are you ready? There's no turning back after we go into the town."

'Yeah, but I kind of want to hide.'

"You could chill here while I talk to this Oak guy." Rin thought about it, then he noticed he could just stay up in a tree.

'Sounds good, just make sure to come back.' Cloud nodded then left, trying to find his way to Oak's laboratory.

* * *

~Pallet Town-Oak's Lab-15 minutes before~

Oak was doing some research when he heard a voice in his head. **_Excuse me Samuel, are you available?_ **_What the hell? Who's th- wait, it's you Arceus isn't it? _**_The one and only. I'm using telepathy with you because I'm not popular with some of the other legends right now. Anyways let's get to business. I have sent someone to speak with you, he's new here. Also, can you keep a very important secret? _**_Depends on the secret. _**_Sam, if you don't keep this secret, unless told you can share, I'll be sure to tell Giratina to make room for a certain professor._ **Professor Oak gulped, would he really go to hell? _**The boy I've sent will be there in the next couple of minutes, I want you to fill his head with knowledge of this world. Don't freak out when you see he is a Mew gijinka, that is my doing. The kid needs a place to stay, and since your grandson just left on his Pokémon journey a coulpe of weeks ago, I thought he could stay with you until he leaves for his journey. Get the starters ready, he's going to need all the help he can get.** __I feel you know more than you're letting on._** _Still asking those curious questions Samuel, or hinting them in this case, Samuel maybe you shall find out sooner or later as well. Well, I have to end this chat, but don't think I won't be keeping my eye on you._ **The professor felt the strange sensation leave his head, what a weird chat that was. Then the professor jumped when he heard a knock at his door. He was caught off guard and yelled, "Hold on a second, I'll be right there!" He then rushed to get the starters prepared.

* * *

~With Cloud-On the Way~

Cloud had been walking for a couple minutes. He kept looking back behind him to make sure nothing had happened to Rin. _I'm just being paranoid, Rin can handle himself. _Cloud shook his head away and kept walking towards the building with Pokemon in its land. _That has got to be what I'm looking for. _Cloud rushed up to the door, eager to find out about this world. Building up his courage he knocked on the door.

"Hold on a second, I'll be right there!" Cloud heard a voice say, it sounded like it belonged to someone...experienced. Even in his mind he didn't want to admit the voice sounded old. _Well, at least the professor will have a higher chance of being wise. _Cloud brought himself back to reality when he heard the door open in front of him. Who he saw was an aged man in a lab coat, looking extremely nervous and surprised. _This must be Professor Oak._

"Hi, my name is Cloud." He greeted while holding his hand out to shake hands. "You must be the Professor Oak I heard from Arceus." Professor Oak just looked at Cloud as if he were crazy. Oak then remembered that Arceus told him she _sent _him here. Oak took Cloud's hand.

"Yes I was just told you were going to drop by, do you want to come in?"

Cloud was confused at first then connected the dots. "Of course, thanks for the hospitality. From the neighborhood I came from it sure is nice to know that there are nice people out here." _But I wonder for how long, _Cloud thought.

The professor stepped back to let Cloud into his laboratory. Oak led him to three Pokémon, a Mankey, a Nidoran(Female), and a Growlithe. Oak spoke up after Cloud looked confused. "These are Pokémon you can choose for your starter. Unfortunately, the ideal Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle that beginners usually get I gave away to the trainers that turned ten a couple weeks ago. The Mankey is unusually a sweetheart, her strength is used for bone-crushing hugs, but she has a very short temper. The female Nidoran is docile, but is always looking out for trouble. And little here Growlithe is extremely loyal, like most of his kind, but he can be a bit stubborn. So, who do you want to choose to be your partner?" The Pokémon gave their respective cries, but Cloud heard something different.

"Come here so I can give you a hug!/Are you a troublemaker?/Pick me and I'll give you some awesomeness that you don't already have!"

Cloud looked at their expressions and Growlithe's entrigued him the most. He wasn't giving Cloud a look that said "Pick me" but rather a look that said "Try me". Cloud accepted Growlithe's unspoken challenge. "Professor, I choose this Growlithe."

'You'll regret it punk, don't say I didn't warn you.'

"Are you sure? This one likes to make a bit of trouble."

Cloud smirked, "That's what I hoped for."

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**AN: **

**CloudTheLuxray: So what did you think? I hoped you liked my first FanFiction. Let me say this now, my updating is unpredictable, but I will not abandon this story. If I don't update soon it's either school, family, or I'm just plain busy with other things. I try the best I can, so I hope you like it!**

**Lucario: So it looks like Cloud likes to have a challenge. Wonder how that will go.**

**Zorua: Luca! Don't be so rude, remember when you hatched as an egg? You were picking a fight with everyone.**

**CloudTheLuxray: Please no fighting in my workspace, it gives me a headache.**

**Lucario/Zorua: Sorry Lux.**

**CTL: You better be. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a Tylenol.**

**Lucario: Welp, thanks for reading and-**

**S**

**Zorua: Please review!**

**Lucario: Hey! I wanted to say that! **


	2. Holy Shit, The Pokédex Is Right

**CTL: Sorry this chapter came so late, I had a lot of family drama going on and to top it all off I had a major project due. But I managed to pull through and get this chapter done. **

**Lucario: Basically what Lux is trying to say is, thanks for waiting.**

**CTL: Well if you want to put it in simple terms than yeah.**

**Zorua: Well, on to the reviews then. Lux, if you please.**

**CTL: Alright, first review was from SuperMarioBros45, not sure what you meant in the first part but a gijinka is a human with a certain animal's characteristics. For example a cat gijinka is a human with cat ears and tail, sometimes paws or fangs or some other crap. **

**Lucario: Ok the next review is from Guest, Jay is now traveling through other parallel universes because that is what a multivariate traveler does. Although he will be returning later in the story, it won't be for a while.**

**Zorua: That's it. Don't be afraid to review guys, it can be any of your thoughts on the story. It gives our author motivation because then Lux knows that someone is actually reading the story we compose.**

**CTL: "We?" I'm pretty sure I'm the one writing the story, although sometimes the story seems to write itself.**

**Zorua: Exactly, that's us invading your consciousness telling you what will happen, hence the "we".**

**Lucario: How about we all stop boring the readers and get to the story.**

**CTL/Zorua: Fine.**

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, if I did the story would not just focus on Ash.

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Chapter 2- Holy Shit, The Pokédex Is Right

Professor Oak sighed and said, "Alright, but just remember that this was your choice." He grabbed Growlithe a pokéball and captured him, only for Growlithe to pop right out of it. "Growlithe is still stubborn about getting into his pokéball. Here's your own pokédex, a machine where you can record data for each Pokémon you encounter." Oak handed Cloud a sleek black pokédex. "It's the only one I have and it's a bit more high-tech for beginners."

Cloud grinned, he was always good with technology, but he wouldn't tell his secret to just anybody. "I think I can manage, just how does it work?"

Oak opened the pokédex up and gave it to Cloud. Cloud felt something prick his finger. "This model will give you a DNA test, so it will know who its owner is. Then you will have to fill in the registration form on it, but you can click the 'Register Later' button. Next you point it at the Pokémon you want to scan and it tells you its information. In this case you would point it at Growlithe." Oak then proceeded to point the pokédex at Growlithe.

**"Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. While loyal to its master, the Growlithe will drive away enemies by barking and biting."**

'You're gonna have to wait till you get my loyalty, _master_.' Growlithe said sarcastically, with only Cloud understanding him. Cloud shot him a look that said, "Just wait". Growlithe just barked in return.

"So here are five pokéballs to start off, but you'll have to buy some more if you want more Pokémon. If you're wondering how to get money every trainer starts out with a complimentary 3000 pokédollars. To get more you have to beat trainers in battle or sell items you don't need. Then there is the occasional tournament or contest that gives money as a side prize as well. Anyways, it seems you and Growlithe should become more close before you start off on a journey. You're welcome to stay here for a week or two, but no more unless you're willing to go to school."

"How long would I have to go to school for? Nine months? A whole year?"

"The mandatory is four months, longer if the guardian pays for more. They teach common skills, and the encore classes vary from becoming a random trainer, to specializing in one of the 18 types. If I may ask, why are you interested?"

"'Cuz I think I'm going to need that time in order to get Growlithe to cooperate with me and my commands." Cloud replied, casting side glances at the snoozing Growlithe. Growlithe fell asleep long ago, getting bored with talk about school and beginner stuff.

"Very well, but you will have to keep up with your school work or I will be forced to kick you out."

Cloud smirked yet again, "Consider it done."

* * *

~The Next Day-Oak's Corral- 9:30~

Before Cloud went to bed last night he picked up Rin who was starting to get worried. After some scratches to Cloud's face and arm, Rin was A-okay. On the other hand, Cloud went to bed with some stings on his body, but they healed really fast, the professor was oblivious to everything that happened.

Now Cloud was stuck in the corral until he got some bonding done with Growlithe, who also didn't want to do this and was making it difficult for Cloud.

"Come on Growlithe! At least tell me your name if you don't want to cooperate!" At this point, the professor and his assistants have left to do some outside research, which meant that Cloud can have his ears and tail out without worry. Growlithe wasn't impressed.

'You want to know my name? Here goes, it's Kai. However when I become a strong Arcanine I want to be called Arca.'

Cloud looked confused, "Why, wouldn't you want to be called by you real name instead?"

'It sounds weird. So could you still call me Arca even if I'm not an Arcanine?' Cloud nodded. Then Growlithe thought of something. 'Speaking of sounding weird, what about you? I can tell Cloud isn't you're real name.' Cloud sighed as Growlithe smirked. 'Ah ha! I knew it!'

"Alright, my real name is-"

**BOOM! **All Cloud noticed was the Pokémon fleeing from an oncoming threat.

"What the hell was that!?" Not a second later a Tauros came into view with a crazed look in its eye. It saw Growlithe and his red-orange fur and went wild because of the red and started charging towards the general direction. When it came closer Cloud tried to steer the bull away by waving his limbs everywhere.

'Look out!' That was all Growlithe could yell because not five seconds later the crazed wild bull Pokémon turned towards Cloud and kept charging blindly at him. Not a split second later, Cloud pulled out one of his pokéballs out and threw it at the raging Tauros. Everything was silent after that, all except the pokéball that was shaking ferociously on the grass.

*Shake*

...

*Shake*

...

*Shake*

...

...

...

...

*Click*

Growlithe and Cloud sighed in relief, but then realized that the Tauros was their problem now. A familiar sarcastic voice spoke up.

'Oh I bet he'll be fun at parties, not to mention that he's on _our team now_.'

"Oh shut up Rin, I bet he has a good heart."

'How much are we betting here, 200-300 pokédollars?' Rin remarked with a sly grin.

"It was a figure of speech Rin. Besides, this guy may not be all bad, maybe he had a bad day or something, things like that make me want to destroy things as well."

'Cloud's right Rin, maybe he just had something bad happen.'

Rin feigned shock, "Am I the first witness to see Cloud and Kai-'

'ARCA!'

'Arca, actually agree on something?' Rin then smirked and then laughed maniacally, rolling on the ground while doing so. Cloud and Arca rolled their eyes, then Cloud spoke up while Rin was still laughing.

"Might as well start the truce now since we are a team, truce Arca?"

'Ugh, fine, truce Cloud.' They shook on it and turned to look at the pokéball. Rin heard the agreement and stopped his laughter but he was still grinning.

'Now that you two are somewhat buddy buddy, let's check out this Tauros.'

Cloud and Arca gave Rin a glare then Cloud took the pokéball off the ground and enlarged it. He tossed it up into the air and the red light materialised into the Tauros that was once raging through the corral.

'Where the hell am I?' Tauros had a deep gruff voice, and he looked genuinely confused when he came out of the pokéball.

"Well let's see, you were raging about the professor's corral here and almost got me seriously injured, if not killed, and then I captured you and you're my Pokémon now."

'Ah man I'm extremely sorry about that, the story behind it is a long one. Long story short, my mate just told me she found someone else and left me.' Tauros had a look of hurt on his face, then it turned angry again. 'I thought I could handle it but today I saw her with my best friend and I kinda lost it. Seeing that I have nowhere else to go I'd be glad to join your team.' Tauros looked up to see Cloud, Rin and Arca looking at him with an empathetic look.

"Dude that sucks, I'm sorry man." Cloud scratched the back of his head. "That's one thing we have in common, a bad love life." Cloud had a thoughtful look and then shuddered at the memory.

'Alright, bad love lives aside, we have to repair that fence.' Rin then smirked. 'Then we get to go school shopping Cloud!'

"This is probably the only time I'm going to say 'yay' for shopping, I need to get a whole bunch of stuff, and maybe a job if I can seal the deal with the shopkeeper." Cloud inwardly groaned and thought, _I hope school isn't that bad and people don't make fun of me again. _Cloud made a mental bitter laugh, _yeah, fat chance. _Cloud and co. started rebuilding the wooden fence with help from Pokémon both wild and domesticated.

~Four Hours Later~

'Well that took forever.' A Machamp remarked. The Pokémon that helped Cloud and his Pokémon were really nice, some just did it out of fear for more dangerous Pokémon. Cloud whistled to get all the Pokémon's attention on him.

"Alright everyone, thanks for your help. You can go back to your normal routine now." All the Pokémon left to go do their own things. Arca then realized something that he should have realized sooner.

'Rin?'

'Yeah?'

'When Cloud and I were talking, were you spying on us?'

Rin lazily answered. 'No...'

'Really? I could've sworn you were.'

'Arca I promise you I wasn't watching you and Cloud.'

Arca's blood started to boil. 'THEN HOW DID YOU FIGURE OUT MY REAL NAME?!'

Rin started to panic, then up and started running away. Arca growled and gave chase, then yelled 'YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER!'

As they were running away, Cloud and Tauros were talking. Cloud started with a question. "So, what's your name? Your preferred name that is."

'Toro, it's my name and what I preferred to be called.'

"Nice, alright so now that that's settled, we have to go school shopping. It's a good thing none of the people I've met so far have been girls, with the obvious exception of the voice in my head."

'Why?'

"Do you know nothing at all?! Women take you to the extremes when they're shopping, making you carry their stuff and draining the money from your wallet. I bet you'll get a chance to see for yourself one day..." Cloud shuddered at an unseen memory and then came back to reality. "Let's get a move on then. Rin! Arca! We're leaving!" Then Cloud heard their footsteps and returned Toro. He was about to return the other two but they said.

'We'd rather stay out, if you don't mind. Which, I won't think you will.' Rin threatened with a smirk, electricity jumping around his fur.

"Yep, don't care." Cloud replied disinterested while staring off into space. Arca and Rin gave each other a confused look, then shrugged.

* * *

~The Mall-15:30~

After getting some directions, Cloud and co. found the mall and did some minor shopping. Right now, Cloud is trying on a new outfit, with two bags on the bench beside him. He is wearing a black shirt with a faded half Pokéball on his bottom left, with dark blue baggy denim jeans, a white belt with his dragon belt buckle, a brand new bandana that is exactly the same as his old one, a plaid zip-up hoodie that was blue, black and white, and black skater shoes with dark grey laces.

'Looking fancy, you planning on getting a skateboard too?'

Cloud looked into the mirror and saw that Rin snuck in. "Actually yeah, it's gonna be easy transportation for my new job in this store."

'Well good luck finding one.'

"I already have, my new boss is holding it for me."

'Well you're just a lucky son of a bitch aren't you?'

"I try." Cloud replied smirking. After he finished touching up his new outfit, he walked out and asked if he could just wear it home.

"Sure Cloud, that'll be two thousand pokédollars please." The cashier said, obviously one of Cloud's new coworkers.

"Here you go," Cloud said while handing the guy the money. "I'll see you at work tomorrow." Cloud then grabbed his skateboard and took off, with Rin and Arca who came out of nowhere, on his heels. His skateboard was plain black on the top, but the design was a Charizard surrounded by colorful flames on the bottom. He had white trucks with blue wheels that glided smoothly on the pavement. When he eventually reached Oak's lab, he already returned both of his Pokémon because they were exhausted trying to keep up so they just resigned into their pokéballs.

"Professor, I'm back." He looked at his newly acquired watch, it was 17:56, or 5:56 PM. Military time always confused him, but he's gotten used to it. Cloud went up to his temporary room and set his black and white backpack down next to his bed. He flopped onto the bed and started thinking about why this all happened, and what the point of him being here is. "Well I guess I'll find out someday." He dozed off without realizing it and the next thing he knew, it was morning. Cloud lazily turned his head to his digital clock, and nearly fell out of bed when he saw what time it was.

7:45, it takes him approximately 7 minutes, 7:52, to get ready and he has to be at work at 8:15. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem if his work was close or he had a car. But it's not. It took him 22 minutes, 8:14, to get home yesterday, on his skateboard.

"Well shit." He got ready at 7:50. He had Toro pull his skateboard to work, 8:10. He had to find his locker and get his name tag, 8:13. Finally, he went to stand around the counter to wait until the store opens and see if anyone needs help, 8:15. Cloud sighed in relief, glad that the workers here didn't have to wear a uniform, he was wearing what he had on yesterday except his hoodie, because it's hot in the store. He earns 500 pokédollars an hour, which is pretty good for a thirteen year-old.

* * *

After his work was over, it was 14:00 on his watch. He proceeded to the edge of Pallet Town, where the Abra teleported them. He let out his Pokémon so that they could train, but he had to register his pokédex first.

"Alright, so I put on my full name, date of birth, birth region, and birth city. This would be a piece of cake if I lived here!" Cloud let out a huff of frustration and entered the following information:

Cloud Asher

4-21-2000

Sinnoh

Celestial Town

Cloud put Sinnoh and Celestial Town because those were two random options in each of its respective drop-down boxes. Cloud then had a thought. "Rin, do you think it'll ever get easy living in this place?"

'I don't know Cloud, maybe we'll find our answers on the journey we're gonna start in four months.'

Cloud had his head held down. "I sure hope so." He regained his usual demeanor and started scanning his trio of Pokémon.

**Shinx, the Flash Pokémon. When Shinx flexes its muscles, it generates electricity. When sensing danger, the hairs on its body light up and it runs away, leaving its opponent dazed. This Shinx is male and has the ability rivalry. He knows the moves Tackle, Bite, Ice Fang, Spark, Leer, and Charge. He also possesses the egg move Night Slash, which has not been unlocked yet. Note, this Pokémon has a minor discoloration. **

**Growlithe, the Puppy Pokémon. It has a pleasant demeanor and great diligence. It drives enemies away by barking and biting. This Growlithe is male and has the ability Flash Fire. He knows the moves Tackle, Bite, Odor Sleuth, Ember, and Protect. He also possesses the egg move Close Combat, which has not been unlocked yet. Note, this Pokémon has a minor discoloration.**

**Tauros, the Wild Bull Pokémon. It uses its tackle to attack, but do to its gentleness, it never uses it unless something brings harm to the Pokémon. This Tauros is male and has the ability Intimate. He knows the moves, Tackle, Tail Whip, Rage, Take Down, and Horn Attack. **

Cloud looked at his Growlithe. "You have a minor discoloration? And you know Protect?"

Arca shrugged the best way he could. "For the Protect move, I had to defend myself against an angry water type I pranked, he took things too seriously. As for the minor discoloration, I have no clue."

Cloud sighed in amusement. "How could one not know what they look like, I mean seriously, how do you not know you have a discoloration? Did this pokédex just glitch or something?"

The black pokédex replied, **"I have been programmed to never be wrong."**

"Yeah? Than what's the Growlithe's discoloration then?" Cloud challenged his apparently sentient pokédex.

**"He is actually a black Growlithe with big orange stripes, it is hardly noticeable." **

Now that Cloud had a closer look at the Growlithe on the screen and Arca, he realized that the sentient pokédex was right, the black "stripes" on Arca were slightly bigger than the average Growlithe.

"Holy shit, the pokédex is right."

Rin and Toro looked at him in confusion and Arca just shrugged, he didn't really care what he looked like. Cloud put his pokédex away in his backpack and turned back to his Pokémon, gaining their attention.

"Alright guys, time to do some training. Everyone just start working on Iron Tail, all of you have tails and when we start going around battling it'll be a great surprise on rock types." Cloud then thought, _I don't even know if I want to collect gym badges. If this world really is like the game, manga, and anime, then there should be gyms, right? Well I guess I'll find out in school. _Cloud just shook the thought away and started doing some training himself, he wanted to be in shape in case anything happens where he can't use his Pokémon. Also to keep himself in shape so he can start using shortcuts to places. He smirked to himself, it sure is going to be fun.

* * *

After about two hours, Cloud looked at his watch, 16:30. Cloud decided that he should probably go to the lab. He looked up and saw that the sun was halfway to the horizon line. Cloud yelled for his Pokémon to stop, they were getting the hang of the new move. Rin had the metallic sheen down, but he couldn't control it. Arca was just strengthening his tail, and Toro was doing the same. Cloud thanked them for their work and returned them to their pokéballs. He grabbed his skateboard and slung his backpack onto his shoulder and took off on the dirt road.

While he was riding his skateboard, Cloud saw what looked like a small boy being taunted by teenage boys. He skidded to a stop and went around the corner to have a closer look.

"Well looky here," The teenager with a Charizard shirt and black hair said. "It seems like little Grayson here forgot our favorite gummy snacks again." The other two just laughed along, it sounded like they were the lackeys. The leader, which Cloud nicknamed "the jackass", started talking again. "What's your excuse this time nerd?"

"I-I was going to get your snacks but it was my friend's little sister's birthday so I got her a Pikachu doll which took all of my money to buy." The apparent "little" boy said confidently. That's when Cloud realized he was a teenager too, and by the looks of it, Grayson spotted Cloud and was asking for help, Cloud could tell by the look in his eyes and how he was casting occasional glances at Cloud.

Lackey #1, as Cloud nicknamed, with orange hair, walked over to Grayson and pushed him up the side of the wall. The jackass started walking forward with a punch being readied in his right fist.

"Not a good enough excuse. Are you prepared for what happens when you don't follow orders!" While he was wasting his breath, Cloud took care of Lackey #2 silently and was creeping up behind the jackass. Right before the jackass had the time to swing, Cloud grabbed his collar and slammed him into the pavement. This distracted Lackey #1 and Grayson wiggled free and went to where Cloud was hidden so that he could thank him later.

Meanwhile, Cloud had jackass in a firm grip. Cloud punched him several times in the face before he got tackled by Lackey #1. Cloud quickly reacted and used Lackey #1's weight against him by flipping him over his back so that he was in the same position as the jackass, he was not getting up. Cloud looked back to where the jackass was and saw that he escaped.

"Well shit." Cloud said, looking around and saw that there was no trace of the jackass. "At least I got two of them." He stated with pride, Cloud hadn't done this since he was fighting for shelter and food when he was homeless. Nice to know his skills weren't wasted, albeit they were rusty. Cloud went back to his stuff and saw the boy he helped earlier.

"Grayson, was it? Nice to see you're in one piece." Cloud said while gathering his stuff, he proceeded to put on his hoodie and zipped it up. "Next time that happens, just tell me and I'll be there, probably on my sick skateboard." Cloud offered while grinning and holding up his skateboard.

"Y-yeah, will do. By the way, my friends call me Izack. It's my middle name, I don't really like Grayson, it's too childish." Izack stuttered out, most likely due to shock of how that scene played out. Now that Cloud had a better look, he saw that Izack was wearing a plain gray shirt with black pants and white shoes.

Cloud nodded, still grinning. Then it hit him that he was lost and needed directions. "Hey Izack, do you know the way to Professor Oak's lab? I kinda need to be in time for dinner."

Izack's eyes widened. "Wait, _the _Professor Oak? That's where you live?"

"Currently, although it feels kinda weird staying there. I feel like he's gonna do experiments on me or something. It's just the feeling I get. Plus, I hear voices in the middle of the night, freaks the shit out of me man." Cloud had this faraway look on his face and shivered.

Izack just looked at Cloud stupefied at what Cloud just told him. "If I ask, I can probably let you stay at my place, how long would you need to stay?"

"Four months, then I'll be on my journey to who knows where."

"Oh, going to school I take it?"

"Yeah, plus I'm getting the extra time to bond with my Pokémon too."

"What kinds of Pokémon do you have?"

"A Shinx, a Growlithe, and a Tauros."

Izack's eyes widened again, just how weird was this person? "You have _three_ rare Pokémon, one that's not even from this region!?"

Cloud scratched the back of his head and looked uncomfortable. "Uh, yeah it's kind of a long story that I can't tell you in public. And if I do tell you, you're going to have to keep a big secret."

Izack seemed confused then shrugged it off. "So should I come to your place tomorrow to tell you, or somewhere else?"

"It depends on when you plan to tell me, cause I got work tomorrow at a store inside the mall."

"What are your work hours?"

"Until I start school I have 8:15-14:00 on Monday-Thursday and 10:15-16:00 on Friday and Saturday. I have Sunday off." Cloud finished with a nod, assuring himself that he was right.

Izack seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a second and finally looked up at Cloud. "Alright, I'll meet you where you work tomorrow at around noon, give or take. Er, where do you work." Izack said sheepishly.

Cloud nodded at the information and then answered his question. "I work at Hot Topic, it's actually where I got my outfit." Cloud remarked while grinning. "If you don't see me just ask for Cloud, they'll know who your talking about."

Izack looked confused. "Your name is Cloud? Or is that some sort of nickname?"

Cloud flinched when he asked that question. "I'd rather not discuss something like that to someone I've just met." Cloud hesitantly replied.

"Oh, my bad. Should have realized that it was something personal."

Deciding to change the subject, Cloud asked for the direction to Oak's lab once more. "So, I still need to get home..."

Izack snapped away from his thoughts and got what he was trying to say. "Yeah, just keep going straight down this road. After you pass two intersections turn left on the third one and keep going down that road, you'll get there in no time."

Cloud flipped up his hood and slung his backpack on his shoulder once more and grabbed his skateboard. "Thanks man. We'll talk more tomorrow." Before he left he flashed a grin at Izack and started following his directions.

* * *

By the time he got home, it was 17:56, and the sun was setting. Before he went inside he let out his Pokémon so they could enjoy the view.

'Well this is a beautiful sight, never got to see much of these where we used to live, eh Cloud?'

Said person was mesmerized by the sunset. "Yeah, it truly is beautiful."

Cloud went back inside, had dinner, and then went up to his room where he then flopped onto his bed to go to sleep, his Pokémon returned into their pokéballs.

* * *

**A/N:**

**CTL: So what did you think? I know there's a lot of swearing in this chapter, and that's probably how it will stay. Just not as much though.**

**Lucario: Cloud seems to be making a new friend, hopefully he can trust him enough to tell him what's going on.**

**Zorua: Is no one going to comment on how Cloud is hearing things in the middle of the night. Creeps the hell out of me. (Shivering)**

**Lucario: Calm down Zo, it's just a fictional piece of writing. **

**Zorua: So was the Human Centipede, and you saw what happened in that "fictional piece". **

**CTL/Lucario: ... O.O**

**Zorua: My point exactly.**

**CTL: Well I can assure you that nothing like that will happen here. (Shoots a glance at Lucario.)**

**Lucario: (Noticed the glance.) Well let's get you out of this AN for now, you need some rest. (Proceeded to pick up Zorua, who made no attempt to break free, and took her somewhere.)**

**CTL: Well that just happened. Please review, follow, or favorite, but mostly review. Until next time, CloudTheLuxray is signing off.**


	3. Now Let's Play the Crap Out of This Shit

**AN:**

****Edit as of 04/25/2015: I redid Cloud's explanation to Izack about his "origins" so I could fit in a conversation in the next chapter. I'm sorry if you those following this story get a reminder about this. It's just a minor change, that's all.**

**TAU: Sorry this took a long time, my kindle wouldn't work for me and it deleted some of my work. (Sigh) Anyway, I'm trying to start writing again. **

**Lucario: About time.**

**TAU: Shut up! I don't see you doing anything!**

**Lucario: That's because I exist in your brain, I don't have to do anything. I couldn't even if I wanted to.**

**TAU: Well, sorry for boring you readers. If your even reading this. Onto the story!**

**Lucario: Not yet! Wait, we don't have any new reviews, do we?**

**TAU: Sad to say but no, on to the story (yet again)!**

**Lucario: Disclaimer - My house's owner does not own the Pokémon idea or company.**

**TAU: I'm just your house's owner now?! Wait till I-**

* * *

Chapter 3- Now Let's Play the Crap Out of This Shit

Cloud woke up to a random Pidgey chirping in the distance. He looked over to his clock and saw that it was 7:15. _Good, I've finally woke up early for once. I should really start waking up at this time now than wait till school starts. I'll definitely be down and falling asleep in class. _Thinking about it, when did school start? _I guess I'll just ask Izack. _Getting up to stretch, Cloud noticed his headphones. _Man I wish I could just listen to music, it feels so weird without it. _Cloud shook his head dismissing the thought. Letting his fangs show with a yawn, Cloud got ready to shower.

After his shower, Cloud noticed that his clock read 7:55. "Well, I still have time to kill. Why not do some training?" And that is exactly what he did. Ultimately, after an hour and a half of training himself and his Pokémon, Cloud changed into a plain grey shirt and black jeans. He wore everything else he had on yesterday besides said shirt and jeans.

"Tomorrow I think we're going to do light training to help our muscles adapt, don't want them to stay sore." After Cloud spoke, his trio of Pokémon nodded in agreement to show they were fine with it. Cloud nodded back and returned them. He looked at his watch to see that it was 9:25. Since today was Friday he didn't have work until 10:15 so he freshened up and left to ride to the mall on his skateboard, aiming to just draw until work started.

When he got to the mall, it was 9:40 and there was no people yet. Using his knowledge about malls, he went to the food court since it was only a couple of stores away. He plopped down onto the nearest table from the hall he came in from so he wouldn't get lost. Who knew a small town could have a confusing mall? It wasn't so much as big, just confusing with its weird layout. The time read 9:43 and Cloud decided to draw Rin as a cat, since he knew him that way the best.

Cloud didn't have time to finish as his alarm on his watch went off. What he did have done was an outline of Rin sitting down with his long tail behind him. Rin was grinning in the picture as he held Cloud's old bandana under his left paw. All Cloud had to do was outline it in pen then color it. At 10:14 Cloud went into Hot Topic to start working.

Around two hours later a familiar face came into the store. Cloud waved him over to where he was standing. He had just helped a customer and got a 100 pokédollar tip as a sign of thank you. It wasn't much but at least he could get a cheap soda.

"How have you been today Izack?" Cloud asked as his acquaintance came over.

"Eh, I could have been better." Izack shrugged. Cloud noticed how his orange hair stood out from his outfit as it did yesterday. The only thing different is that he had a white hoodie on with the Kanto starters' highest evolved form on the back, and the hoodie had a gray inside.

"You do realize that dressing in neutral colors doesn't match your hair, right?"

"Yeah, it's one of the reasons I get picked on."

"One of the reasons, actually two, are that I had white hair and that I call myself Cloud." Cloud shook away the thought and decided to change the subject. "Did you ask if I could stay?"

"Mm-Hm, my parents said you are free to stay as long as you behave and some other stuff about being good. It won't matter though since I don't live with them, they only send me money, quite a lot, so we have the house to ourselves."

"Sweet. Hey, do have enough so I could get an all music downloader?" Cloud hated asking someone he barely knew for a favor, but it was killing him that he had headphones he couldn't use.

"Sure, but on one condition. You have to tell me your story."

Cloud sighed, he knew he was going to have to tell Izack eventually. "Well it started like this..." Cloud proceeded to tell Izack how he came here, including that he was a hybrid. He told Izack that he was from Sinnoh and that he got caught in an accident, Cloud didn't trust Izack to tell the full story. Cloud explained that some of his mind is blank to cover up that he wasn't from this world. Izack looked skeptical at first but when Cloud flashed his fangs Izack started to believe him. Cloud left out that he wasn't from this world, instead Sinnoh, and that he had a telepathic conversation with the creator of life.

"So you really are a Mew gijinka?" Cloud nodded. "Well that's a lot to take in."

"You're tellin' me, it's been hard trying to keep my ears flat in public and hiding my tail. If I had better control of both of them it would be easier but it's not, it's one of the main reasons I got my hoodie." Cloud gestured to his plaid hoodie. "But it's kind of cool knowing that you have DNA of a legendary Pokémon." Cloud grinned as he said the last part.

"You know you could learn moves and powers that the legendary Pokémon possesses, right? Which means you could, theoretically, transform, turn invisible, and learn just about any move possible. You could essentially become a powerhouse, one of the strongest gijinkas ever!" Izack had a certain gleam in his eyes now.

Cloud had a thinking face on and realized that Izack is right, he _can_ be a badass powerhouse. "Well I think the first thing I'm gonna work on is turning my ears and tail invisible. Then the transforming, and finally the moves. Once I get the gist of all of those I can do anything."

"I think it'd be wise to start working on transformation last and your moves second. And when you start your moves, work on the psychic ones first, they'll no doubt be easier to learn because your a pure psychic type."

Cloud nodded. "Yeah I think I'll end up learning all of my powers at the same time, so to speak, knowing me. Alright I got to get back to work, we can talk later."

"After work come to my house, bring all of your stuff. I live on Highland Avenue, it's the big blue house, number 713."

"Alright I'll be there."

With that Izack left and Cloud went back to work, thinking about this new revelation about himself. _It'll definitely be interesting to start working on that. _Cloud smirked at the thought and went back to work for the day.

* * *

After work was over at 16:00, Cloud went to fill his backpack with all of his stuff and left for Izack's house. After looking for it, he was let inside and had a conversation with Izack. Cloud found out that school started up on Tuesday. He got settled into his room on the second floor and found a queen-sized bed with gray sheets, black pillow and a soft dark blue comforter. Cloud set his enlarged backpack down and took out his clothes to put them away. He went downstairs to find Izack in the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" Cloud asked, drooling over the thought of a homemade meal. The Professor just fed him microwave dinners.

"I've got the ingredients to make stuff, but I'm not sure what."

"Let me see. I've watched enough people cooking that I got the gist of it." Cloud looked at what Izack had. Rice, vegetables, pasta, tomatoes, ground beef-er whatever it is, milk, eggs, butter, cream of mushroom soup, and bread. Cloud thought for a second and decided what to make. He looked to Izack. "Ever had cream of mushroom soup with rice before?" Izack shook his head. Cloud grinned. "Well then you my friend have to try it. I call it soup rice for short, I always had it as a kid and the name stuck."

Izack looked at Cloud. "You know, you are a crazy genius. I don't really like mushrooms though."

Cloud looked at Izack, incredulous. "Dude, the mushrooms are like this big," Cloud made a hand gesture of about 3 centimeters. "You won't even notice they're there. I'm not so fond of mushrooms myself. I mean, who eats fungi-which has absorbed human nutrients, it's like eating a part of yourself, in a way."

Izack still looked a bit disgusted, it didn't help that Cloud explained what mushrooms do. "You promise I won't notice them?"

"Well if you think about them of course you're going to notice them. Just think about the texture and flavor, you'll get so lost in your taste buds, you won't even notice the mushrooms are there."

Izack gave a sigh of resignation. "Fine I'll give it a shot."

Nodding in approval, Cloud took out the huge box of rice and three cans of the mushroom soup. Izack looked confused, Cloud chuckled. "Trust me, we won't even have leftovers." Izack still looked incredulous, Cloud ignored the look and started making the rice. After eight minutes it was done. Cloud got out the bowls after asking where they were, making sure to get a big one for himself. He gave one to Izack and pestered him to try it already. Izack gathered the nerve to eat a bite. All one could say was that Izack was in heaven after the first bite and joined Cloud to work down the whole bowl. In the end, Cloud was right about not having any leftovers.

Izack burped. "That. Was -*hic*- amazing. I didn't know such a revolting food like mushrooms can actually be good in something." Cloud chuckled again.

"I know right? I was scared to try it at first as well, but after the first bite, I found myself asking for a seventh serving."

"They made that much?"

"No, they made more and more until I finally passed out from eating too much." Cloud had a pained smile on his face now. "Too bad those days didn't last."

Izack looked confused, but decided not to pry. He looked at the clock and saw that it was 18:00. "Hey, why don't we play some videogames? I've got every game, ever."

Cloud's eyes widened. "Nuh-uh, that would be impossible."

It was Izack's turn to smirk. "How so?" He challenged.

Cloud grinned. "Because I have the only copy ever made of Gaming Madness."

Izack squinted his amber eyes. "And what kind of game is that?"

"It's my own creation for the Galactica X, every Nintendo game is put into a storyline similar to Kingdom Hearts and you have to survive in each world for 100 game days, which are 8 minutes long, like it was Minecraft. Then you have to defeat the game's boss to move onto the next world. Up to six players can play due to me tampering with an old GameCube to add extra features. Such as six controller slots, better graphics from component cables, and a couple other things such as online gameplay that is compatible with every online console, both new and old."

Izack stood slack-jawed and wide-eyed at Cloud's revelation. "And you did that all by yourself?!"

Cloud rubbed the back of his head and sheepishly answered. "Uh, no I had help from tons of people and even then it took seven years to produce the final product, which I finished the final touches yesterday.

"Wow, so you've been working on this since you were six?!"

"Heh, yeah. Well are we just going to stand around here, or are we going to play it?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They went into the game room that was on the first floor of the basement. It had three comfortable gamer chairs with speakers built into them and a four cushion couch behind them with a mini fridge in the middle of it that was cleverly built in. The Tv, or Tv's were two 50" flat screens with three tiny Tv's in the middle that was for old game consoles. Cloud whistled in awe.

"Nice place you got here." Said person was still looking around.

"Yeah, cost a fortune, but it was worth it. Best part is that this only part of it, the other is down that trapdoor in the corner." Izack remarked, pointing to the trapdoor. "But you're not allowed down there yet. Only my closest friends can come with me down there. If you ever become my closest friend and I let you down there, you'll see why. Enough about this though. Go back up the stairs to get your console."

Cloud nodded in understanding, then went back up to the first floor to go to the second to get his Galactica X and the one game that went with it and put it in his backpack. After trudging down the two flights of stairs, he set it up to the main flat screen to play it. He took out a black controller with white handles that looked just like regular GameCube controllers, the only difference being that instead of the layout of the A, B, X &amp; Y buttons were the design of the DS buttons. He took out the wireless plug-in that went with it. Then Cloud took out a gray controller with black handles, the wireless plug-in for it as well.

"Pick a controller." Izack took the gray and black one. Cloud smirked and declared, "Now let's play the crap out of this shit!"

In the end, they stayed up till one in the morning. Beating the Mario worlds of every Mario game ever. Izack chose to be the character Samus from Metroid. Cloud chose to be a Lucario that wields an aura infused sword. When they realized what time it was, they found a save block to save their progress and promised to play again tomorrow.

* * *

The next day Cloud woke up at 7:15 again, sticking to his schedule. He used the bathroom that was connected to his room to wash up and change into another half pokéball t-shirt that was purple instead, and black cargo shorts. He went into the house's backyard to train with his Pokémon. At 8:35. Izack joined him with his Pokémon, Charmander and Eevee. Cloud scanned them in his pokédex, only getting the information on the Pokémon and its current status, no moves, ability, or anything of that sort. Only the moves it can learn was on there besides the general information. After seeing what awesome Pokémon Charmander and Eevee were, he decided to get them in the future.

At 9:25 Cloud stopped his light training to take a shower. Growlithe has mastered Iron Tail - albeit still a bit shaky - and has moved onto Flamethrower. Rin was angry that Arca learned Iron Tail before him so he has been training harder to try and catch up. Tauros didn't care about his teammates' progress, so he wasn't fazed. Cloud went to work and had a normal day, when he got home he and Izack played Gaming Madness and had dinner. At midnight, Cloud couldn't sleep and was sitting there thinking about his powers, he still had a long way to go to get where he wanted to be. _I know I'll get there some day, hopefully it rolls around sooner though. _He suddenly felt a presence in his head, a familiar female voice spoke.

_**You will get to that point sooner than you may know, young Cloud. **_

_In my head again I see? _

_**Yes, well I have been watching you-**that doesn't sound creepy at all**\- (ahem) As I was saying, I have been watching your progress. You are progressing nicely, better than any other newbie trainer that I keep an eye on. Ho-Oh has got her chosen, and I am suggesting your friend for Lugia, he needs a chosen as well. **_

_Wait a sec, you know about Izack? _

_**Grayson being chosen was practically set from birth. But when he met you, he started to be more friendly and social, even if just a tad bit. Because of this, he has earned his position for being the next in Lugia's line for chosen.**_

_ I hate to interrupt, but how many legends get to have chosens?_

**_All the legends get to have chosens, though some choose not to have chosens._**

_Am I a chosen one? _

_**You have the potential, but if you are extremely powerful, as some chosen ones are, you are the chosen to more than one legend. **_

_Who has been the chosen one to most of the legends ever? _

_**Her name was Hazel **__**Romaro, she was the most powerful of the chosens in **__**our history, the chosen for 23 **__**legends. The only other chosen who has come the closest to that record was Sir Aaron Rowe, he was the chosen to 13 legends.**_

_ Who were the legends for each of them?_

_** I cannot tell you Romaro's legends, you will have to figure that out for yourself. Rowe however, I can tell you their names. He was the chosen to Mew, Ho-Oh, Celebi, Articuno, Victini, Xerneas, Latios, Latias, Dialga, Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, and my brother, the main Arceus.**_

_Wait, "main Arceus"? _

_**Yes, you will find out about him later. If you must know sooner, take a Pokémon mythology class in school. **_

_Okay, bringing us back to the conversation from earlier, who would be my legend(s) if I was a chosen one? _

_**I want you to figure that out yourself, I have to leave now, I hope you enjoyed our talk. **_

_Don't worry, I gained a lot of information now! _Cloud felt Arceus leave his head, _man she's so cool. _Cloud shook away all thoughts and tried to get to sleep.

* * *

Cloud woke up the next morning at 7:00. Cloud fist pumped in the air, he was getting good sleeping habits, for the first time in a while! Cloud merrily washed up and almost forgot to eat breakfast, but he grabbed a banana and a yogurt. He then went into training with his Pokémon, Izack joined him again at 8:30. They trained for most of the day, since it was Sunday - Cloud's day off. By the end of training, Rin and Toro learned Iron Tail - still shaky like Arca - and Cloud got his ears invisible, for five seconds. He was glad he was getting better, but sad that it was only five seconds that he was able to hold it. The day went by as usual, Izack and Cloud left their Pokémon to congregate in Izack's yard while they went to play Gaming Madness. Monday went by the same way, just instead Cloud had to work. He suggested that Izack gets a job as well, they don't know if one day Izack's parents will just stop sending him money. Izack was up for it, so now he is looking for a job. While looking around for a job, Izack got Cloud a purple music downloader and he got himself a pair of orange headphones and a black music downloader, Cloud didn't need headphones because he had his own. Cloud dreaded tomorrow, he was worried that he would get bullied and teased. Izack comforted that Cloud can just beat them up if they try.

"Dude, that victory back in the alley was just a fluke. Sure I've been in plenty of fights, I stopped a year ago. If that prick with the Charizard shirt is there with bigger lackeys this time," Cloud shuddered. "I don't think I can take them on." Izack had a look of disgust on his face.

"You mean Dylan, yeah he's a bully alright. What you just said he would probably make happen, knowing him."

"How long has he been bullying you?"

"Too long, I can't remember when he started. We used to be friends too." Izack gave a bitter laugh. "Look how that turned out. *sigh* I guess we just drifted apart and he wanted to look cool and started bullying me. Ultimately, it just made him an asshole who just needs to leave." Izack was on the verge of tears despite how firm he said his statement, Cloud wrapped his right arm around his shoulders.

"Don't let old memories get you down, he's just an asshole, you said it yourself." Izack nodded absent-mindedly, he shrugged Cloud's arm off and went to his room upstairs. Cloud sighed, this was going to be a long night.

* * *

The next morning, Cloud woke up at 6:00. Needless to say, he was exhausted. He almost fell asleep while taking a shower, but fear of drowning woke him up. By 6:25, he was downstairs about to have some equivalent of Fruity Pebbles. Around 6:35, Izack came to join him, like yesterday's conversation never happened. They were having a chat about Gaming Madness when their bus came and honked, signaling they had to leave. Izack told Cloud about the No Pokémon policy at school, so they hid their pokéballs in their backpacks. Cloud had kept his ears low until Izack told him that gijinkas were normal, so he had nothing to worry about, unless someone recognized his species. He was going to tell them that he was a hybrid gijinka, if someone asked.

"Well, here we are. Pallet Middle, "the home of the Ryhorns". Trust me, this place gets old fast." Izack stated as the bus rolled up onto school grounds. They got off and Cloud went to go get his schedule as Izack went to his first class, algebra. Cloud finally got his schedule and looked at it.

A Day:

Period 1 - Chinese

Period 2 - Language Arts

Period 3 - Chemistry

Period 4 - Photo Digital

Period 5 - Algebra

Period 6 - Studio

B Day:

Period 1 - Art

Period 2 - Pokémon Mythology

Period 3 - Gym

Period 4 - Kanto History

Period 5 - War History

Period 6 - Tech-Ed

Since today was a B day, Cloud went to art class. He took a couple turns down the hall, and found himself hopelessly lost. The bell rung, _great, I'm late to class on my first day. Wonderful. _Sighing in resignation, he looked around for a map. _Why does this damn school have to be huge?! _After two minutes of looking, he found someone down the hall. Cloud rushed over.

"Hey, do you know how to get to the art class?" Upon getting closer, Cloud noticed it was a girl he was talking to. She had blue-silver hair and eyes. She was wearing a black Ninetails shirt, blue skinny jeans and had black trainers on. He immediately shut down, _why did it have to be a girl?! Alright Cloud, get it together. She might not be so bad. _He was brought out of his thoughts by the girl in front of him.

"Yes, I do. In fact, I have art myself, why don't we walk down together? Or do you just want directions?" Cloud hesitated for a moment, then tensed up as he agreed to walk together.

"What's your name? I don't believe I've seen you around before."

"Yeah, I'm new here. I'm from," _Think man, think! _"Sinnoh. I just got here during spring break. My name is Cloud." _Dude, get it together. This girl in front of you is obviously not **her **or **them**. She seems alright, find out about her. _He was brought from his thoughts when she started talking again.

The girl thought for a moment. "Nice to meet you, I'm Nora. Cloud is a unique name," Cloud shifted uncomfortably. "But it's a nice one."

"Really?" Cloud said, surprised. "You're the only other person I've met my entire life that said that. I've always been ridiculed and bullied because of my name." _Both new and old._

"That's terrible! My name is not so common either, not here anyway."

"Seems to me that we share some similarities." They walked in a comfortable silence until they reached three doors that had ART in front of them.

"Alright, here we are. It was nice talking to you, you're not like other guys." _Yeah, I bet. _"I have the old hag Miss Woods." Nora spat out the teacher's name with disgust.

"I have Mr. Jackson."

"Man you're lucky, he gives the class just a free sketch time. Miss Woods gives us vocab words and projects to do, it's painfully boring."

"Well, see ya later." He waved goodbye and walked into the classroom.

Today was going to be a long one.

* * *

**AN: **

**TAU: Well that's a wrap, hope you liked this chapter.**

**Lucario: It seems that Cloud is starting to trust more, but is that a good thing or a bad?**

**TAU: Don't pester them with questions. I have to get going so don't forget to review, tell me what you like/dislike about the story, and the like. Again, sorry this chapter took so long.**


	4. Stupid Train of Thought

**AN:**

**TAU: Now I know I skipped the school arc, but I might do I side story on it later if you really want to know about it, it's not very interesting.**

**Lucario: Shiro, you really need to get your head straight.**

**TAU: (Sighs) I know Luca, it's just my kindle/tablet won't work for shit and I put off the chapter, later deciding just to end it where I left off when my tablet worked. I'm a bad author. (Goes to sulk in the corner)**

**Lucario: (Rolls eyes and drags Shiro out of the corner, then proceeds to slap Shiro in the face)**

**TAU: Hey!**

**Lucario: Now you may not be the best author, your certainly not the worst, so don't disown yourself like that. You'll make it through this.**

**TAU: Thanks. (Ahem) So anyway, I would have uploaded this earlier, but I was in Portugal for a bit and I didn't have Wifi when I needed it. But I got to see the end of the world (beautiful place with grgeous views) and got a few souvenirs.**

**Lucario: (Rolls eyes at Shiro for the second time) Okay, you don't need to brag.**

**TAU: (Grins) Don't be so pouty because you _didn't_ go. I had a great time with my family and it cleared my head, you just so happened to be cleared from my thoughts too. My head _certainty_ isn't _your_ home.**

**Lucario: (Talks really fast in one breath) Okay done here. My host doesn't own Pokémon or any original characters of the franchise, only the original characters from my house (basically Shiro's brain). (Proceeds to swiftly run away)**

**TAU: Hey come back here! I swear I'm gonna-**

* * *

Chapter 4 - Stupid Train of Thought

The months have passed and Cloud comes home, thinking about his last day - it was tomorrow. Cloud has been excited to finally get his journey started. During the past months he's been training, both his Pokémon and physique. He got the power of invisibility down, yesterday and only his ears and tail, but for now that's what matters the most. His Pokémon have grown stronger than the average beginner, but that's thanks to watching and playing Pokémon games when he was younger. Cloud could still be floored by Brock, if he doesn't keep his training up. Cloud has also figured out that he wants to be a Pokémon breeder/battler, his Pokémon are not getting away with lounging all the time.

He and Izack have gotten closer over the months, they mesh well together. They have almost completed Gaming Madness, showing how much into the game they are. Cloud has been making most of the meals in the house, while Izack does the chores. Izack finally got a job, it's at F.Y.E., but he's a helper like Cloud is. Izack's parents visit once every two months, at separate times. Cloud could tell there was tension between the two parents.

Cloud picked up a guitar at one point and he found out that he's not that bad, and Izack got a drum set for his birthday. Cloud didn't get anything, but it's alright, he got the music downloader after all. So the two fourteen year-olds have been having discussions if they should start a band. They just need a bass player, Cloud can sing and Izack can be chorus - if they need any.

Cloud had learned a LOT in school as well, and gets low A's and high B's. In no time, he will speak fluent Chinese, plus he's started on Japanese. His lowest grade is an 87% in War History, he just didn't care about that class. In studio he was getting into filmmaking. All in all, Cloud was wondering why they offer these classes in Middle School, it's more of a high school thing, plus the school would have to worry about budgets and whatnot.

Cloud is just pumped that he will be getting out of that hell hole. While the classes were alright, it was the students that bothered him. They made fun of his hair and name, calling him a wannabe. Who was he even trying to be? Cloud sighed and paused his thought process to watch some news.

"-was a true devastation. Over a thousand people died and four thousand Pokémon died as well. The St. Anne tragedy is one of the worst, claims from a couple trainers say that the gang Team Rocket is behind all of it, but no one knows for sure. In other news-" Cloud just turned the Tv off, he laid back onto his bed. _That sounded like that one episode where that trainer and his companions got stuck on that cruise ship. They said it was unsinkable, it's like the Titanic all over again. _A presence entered into his head and spoke.

**_Well, they say history tends to repeat itself - oh never mind. How has your week been?_**

_It's actually been great for once, I mastered invisibility on my ears and tail yesterday. Do you think it was right for you to have sent me here? All I've gotten done is schoolwork, and that's no fun._

**_In time, young Cloud. In time you shall see your true purpose, though you may not understand what it truly means until a later time. Although, the path you have chosen intertwines with your purpose, but I cannot tell you when._**

_Still evasive to my answers I see. Are you ever going to tell me what I want directly, instead of just beating around the bush? _

_**Where is the fun in telling you directly? Furthermore, it's against the rules to tell you some things. **_

_What are these "rules"?_

**_They are the laws of the universe, and beings such as the legends - as you humans call us - know more than the average psychic, so we cannot tell a soul about what we may see or visualize._**

_Well, okay. Oh, sorry, I have to go now. The pancakes are about to burn. _Cloud felt Arceus leave his head, albeit reluctantly. Cloud actually didn't have any pancakes cooking, he just thought that so he could have some alone time. Though, thinking about pancakes makes him want some now. _Stupid train of thought._

* * *

The next day, Cloud has just finished his last class, ever, and went to go meet up with Izack. They were planning on celebrating that they were officially trainers now. They would be traveling together so he needed to find him so they could leave. They already had their license in their pokédexes, so they just needed to prove that they had an education now. Apparently, the professor never told him that he had to go to school, though he just assumed that the professor would have just vouched for him, saying that he was an apprentice or something. Cloud was glad that he went to school, because now he knows a bit more about this world.

Cloud was to busy thinking that he didn't notice that he bumped into somebody.

"I'm, sorry wasn't looking where I - oh! It's you, Cloud. I was wondering where you were actually." After rubbing his sore arm, he looked up to see Nora, in all her silver glory. He swore he could actually feel sparkles emanating from her.

"Oh, hey Nora." Cloud and Nora have actually never spoke much. Although Nora always treated him friendly, he wasn't quite sure if that was her motive. "You said you were looking for me?"

"Oh! Yeah, I actually came to give you this." She handed him a plain silver chain. "I didn't know what pendant to get you, so I thought you could pick that out yourself." To say Cloud was shocked was an understatement. He nodded and thanked Nora, then hastily left the scene. He smiled at the thought of Nora giving him a nice gift. Cloud put the chain on and tucked it under his shirt.

He left to go find Izack, with a spring in his step.

Later, he found Izack at home, where Cloud figured he'd be. Cloud couldn't blame him, the last days of school are always, _always_, hectic - it doesn't matter what dimension you're from, it is just a universal thing that stretches across most of them. He plopped onto the couch next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, grinning like a mad man.

"Dude, once we get packed we can leave this mundane town!"

"Maybe...not yet. We have a... slight problem." Cloud frowned. He was probably talking about the jackass - Dylan. Ever since Cloud beat him, Dylan had been plotting several ways to get him and Izack back. He has already tried a few times, Cloud only won once. Out of four. Cloud had been disappointed in himself, it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, Dylan would always find his weak point.

"What's he trying to do now?" Cloud questioned, uncharacteristically serious.

"He wants to challenge _us _to a _Pokémon _battle." Cloud looked incredulous to that answer, all Dylan had done so far was challenge them to fist fights, alone. Mono y mono.

"And what's so bad about that? Can't we just leave and never come back for a while?"

"I thought about that already." He sighed. "He's blocking the ways out of the city, and he's waiting at the main entrance/exit."

Cloud frowned, he would probably use Rin for this battle and Izack would most likely use his Eevee, Sylvia. Since he never fought Dylan in a Pokémon battle, he won't know what Pokémon he'll have.

"I guess we'll have to fight him then. We better get going now. When you pack, bring different sets of the same clothes, so it won't get confusing for someone." He winked at Izack.

"What? Who?"

"Never mind." Cloud grinned again, he already packed last night out of excitement.

Izack left to go pack, while Cloud thought of a battle strategy. He would definitely be using his new moves that he helped Rin learn. Cloud grinned, this would be fun.

* * *

Later, Cloud and Izack stood in front of the boarder, facing Dylan. The only thing different that Cloud wore was a gray shirt and baggy blue jeans. Izack had everything else as well but wore a red shirt with blue jeans. Cloud had his black backpack that was refilled with supplies and not schoolwork. Izack had an orange and red one, almost like a fire.

"We gonna get started, or what? We actually have a journey to get to, mind you." Dylan scowled at Cloud's bold statement.

"Alright, Josh get over here." An older teen walked up, and put a hand to a pokéball on his belt. Cloud and the others followed suit. A referee appeared out of nowhere.

"This is a two on two battle. The team that defeats the both of the opposing Pokémon will win. Each trainer is allowed one Pokémon. Cloud and Izack choose first."

Cloud picked Rin's ball and summoned him to the field, Izack did the same with Sylvia's ball.

'Alright, who are we fighting?'

'I finally get to battle! Yay!'

Cloud sighed at their words, they had no idea who Dylan was, so they couldn't know how serious this battle was. Dylan and Josh chose a red-orange lizard with a small flame on its tail and a purple poison-rabbit-type-thing respectively.

Cloud leaned over to Izack and whispered into his ear.

"I'll go for the Nidorino since Rin has more experience, you go for the Charmander. I'll back you up if I need to." Izack nodded in understanding.

"Battle, begin!"

Cloud started off. "Rin, use Spark." **_On Nidorino._** Cloud had picked up some telepathy, can't use it often. After today, he will need a week's resting time before he can try again. Rin nodded to show that he got it.

"Charmander, Flamethrower on the Shinx!" Rin just shot off his sparks when he felt the intense heat coming closer. He narrowly dodged to the right, but not without some burns on his left side.

"Sylvia, use Double Team! Tackle!"

"Nidorino, use Horn Attack on the Shinx."

While Sylvia created her temporary clones, the Nidorino charged towards Rin.

"Rin, dodge maneuver 2!" The Nidorino charged towards Rin and hit ... nothing. Rin was nowhere to be found. The only thing that was there was a small hole. Rin shot out of the ground a few feet away from Nidorino and shot some electricity at the poison type. It groaned in pain and stayed still, with sparks hopping on its body.

With the Nidorino paralyzed, Cloud ordered Rin to use Thunder Fang. Rin sunk his teeth into the poison type's flank and generated electricity in his fangs. The Nidorino flailed helplessly, unable to do anything about the attack. He was about to win when Josh forfeited his Nidorino.

"I don't want him to get hurt in a battle like this." The referee nodded.

"Nidorino is unable to battle."

Cloud focused his attention on Izack's side of the battle. It wasn't going to well, Sylvia got burnt badly and Charmander looks to be in perfect health.

"Rin, go help Sylvia! Use Bite!" Rin took off towards the flame lizard with minor difficulty. He went up and bit Charmander's tail and refused to let go. Charmander tried to shake him off, but had no such luck.

"Sylvia, use Quick Attack!" With the combined forces of the bite on its sensitive tail, and the blow from the quick attack, Charmander fainted. Dylan recalled Charmander with a scowl, but soon spoke comforting words to the pokéball.

"Charmander is unable to battle. Since both Charmander and Nidorino are unable to battle, Cloud and Izack win."

Dylan just scowled and walked off to the Pokémon Center. Josh left to who knows where. Cloud and Izack shrugged, though Izack praised Sylvia for her endurance. The two left for Route 1, looking forward for a good journey. _It was always fun to play, let's see how actually_ being_ the character works._

* * *

A few days later, they made it to the end of Route 1. They trained as well, waking up at six everyday and going to sleep at ten. Once they saw the faint city, they were so glad. It was not fun traveling, though Cloud supposed they could get used to it. They had Rin, Arca, and Izack's Charmander - Liz - beside them, they were glad to see the city as well. The two trainers and their Pokémon ran to the city, hoping that they could get there before the sun set all the way.

While panting Cloud spoke to Izack. "Sure is (pant) lucky we got through the route quickly. (Wheeze) I heard there were aggressive (pant) Spearow living there."

"Yeah, (pant) but if there were Spearow there, (pant) I think we could take 'em."

"You think that (pant) now, but if you (pant) were actually part of the action (wheeze) you would have rather had this outcome: Not encountering them at all. They are (pant) vicious and ruthless and won't hesitate to kill you on sight."

They stopped running when they reached the outskirts of the city with only a house or two nearby.

"Naw, I wish I could of had that experience." _Over confident again, why can't he get it through his thick skull that we aren't invincible? _Cloud inwardly sighed, this would be a bad habit to crack, maybe some other trainer could put him in his place. Izack already believes that Cloud is stronger and won't even put his full force into their practice matches against each other.

"You say that now, but again, if it actually happened to you, I would say 'I told you so' and try and help you out of the situation. Most difficult situations in life aren't always challenging your physical aspects, but your mental aspects as well."

"But haven't you ever wished that exciting things would happen to you?"

Cloud sighed. "I did at one point, but that wish changed after certain...events. Point is, crazy shit started happening too much so I decided to escape that life and live on the streets with my only friend at the time, Rin."

"Why would you give it up? I mean, wasn't it cool having an exciting life?"

"I think our definitions of 'exciting' are different. That life wasn't the good kind of exciting, and I don't want to go into it right now, the only person who knows in this world is Rin and possibly some...never mind. Anyway, it was terrible and I'm still traumatized, and I don't want any pity for it." Cloud started shaking a little but Rin gave him a comforting nudge and Cloud silently thanked him.

"Jeez, way to bring the mood down." Izack crossed his arms behind his head and began to go deep into thought.

After about five minutes of walking, the two teens reached the Pokémon Center in Viridian City to have their Pokémon checked on. They left for the cafeteria, after getting a room, and sat down to eat. The two talked about training and whatnot while they ate. Both of them were going to challenge the eight main Gym Leaders while they traveled. Izack told Cloud that the these Gym Leaders were called the Top 8 and had a reputation for being some of the toughest trainers in Kanto, aside from the obvious Elite 4 and Champion.

After they were down eating they collected their Pokémon and went up to their room. When they got there, they sat their bags down beside their beds, released their Pokémon - besides Toro because he was too big - and laid down in their beds after changing into comfortable clothes - a t-shirt and shorts. Cloud and Izack's Pokémon curled up next to them on their trainers' beds, Liz being careful with her tail flame to not burn her trainer and teammate.

The next morning, Cloud and Izack packed up their stuff and left for the forest. When they got there Cloud released Rin and Arca while Izack released Liz. The first few days when they were in the Viridian Forest came and went uneventfully, that is until today.

"Cloud, what are you going to do after we collect the gym badges and compete in the Indigo League?"

"Good question, unfortunately not one I have a complete answer to. But, I think I'll just travel, deciding whether to compete in a region's league or not." Cloud thought of visiting Hoenn, because that's where Rayquaza is normally seen, but he might get lucky. He mentally shrugged, he guessed it was all up to fate now.

"If I win the league, I'm going to challenge the Elite Four and Champion."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "And if you don't win?"

"I'll either travel with you, if you want me to, and I'll challenge the league another time, or I'll just stay here and train my ass off 'till there's no tomorrow and challenge the league sooner."

"Quite a lofty goal and mindset that you have there."

Izack shrugged. "Everyone has a goal, mine's just bigger, I guess."

"I don't have one, I just plan to travel." _While looking into the reasons of me being here in the first place. _He felt a comforting presence in the back of his mind chuckle.

"Well that's a goal, just not a direct one. You say you just want to travel now, but sooner or later you'll find a reason for it."

Cloud chuckled and crossed his arms. "Since when did you start becoming philosophical? The Izack I know just has his mind focused on games and Pokémon."

Izack turned red. "Well, we have our moments." He calmed down and his face turned back to normal. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll find out what you want to do eventually."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Idiot, I already know what I _want _to do, it's just - how should I put it - I want to know why I'm here." Izack looked confused, he thought Cloud was from Sinnoh but got caught in an accident that turned him into a Mew half-breed - at least that's what Cloud told him. Cloud never told Izack the complete truth to begin with. Cloud continued anyway. "I want to find my purpose of being here on this planet and what fate has in store, because I got my money and I'm ready to buy."

Izack was about to say something as well, but was cut off by the faint sound of buzzing. Cloud recognized the Pokémon instantly before having seen it and quickly grabbed Izack and was already running as fast as he could before Izack could protest. He quickly turned himself, Izack, and their Pokémon invisible. The strain on his mind was clear as he was panting, but not too loudly. The group listened to the buzzing grow closer and then pass, as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

They sighed in relief after the buzzing faded away. Cloud spoke up then, still whispering. "We should get out of here as fast as possible, there might be even more deadly bugs in the forest." Izack and the Pokémon nodded to show they understood.

After that, they reached Pewter city in a couple of hours, thanks to their will to get out of the creepy forest. Cloud booked a room again and he and Izack went to the cafeteria to talk about the Gym.

"I think we should wait until tomorrow to challenge Flint, ever since Brock left for a journey, the Gym just got stronger. We should get some info on this guy before challenging him, we'd be roadkill otherwise." Izack nodded to Cloud's reasoning. While Izack would have normally wanted to just charge in and challenge the leader, he saw a point in Cloud's logic.

"Yeah, I'll find out what Pokémon he has."

"And I'll find out how strong they are." While both Cloud and Izack have trained, Cloud didn't think they were that strong and should not underestimate a Gym Leader, even if he is one of the weakest ones. That logic persuaded Izack not to challenge the Gym in Viridian, plus even if he wanted to he would have to of had seven other badges, in which he didn't.

Izack nodded. "Alright, it's decided then. We will start that after we eat."

So the two ate, talking in between bites about their lives. After that they went their separate ways to find out about the Gym Leader Flint.

* * *

"Alright, I found out what Pokémon he has."

"And I know how strong he is."

"And that is...?"

"He is just a bit stronger than us so we'll have to train for a couple of days."

"He usually uses his Rhyhorn first and if the challenger gets by him, he sends out a Geodude."

"Well that's stupid, why not send out the Geodude first?"

Izack just shrugged and saw Cloud shake his head in disproval.

"Well are we going to stand here and chitchat while we could be training!? I don't think so, let's go." And without warning or hesitation, Izack dragged Cloud away.

After a few days of training their asses off, the two teens stood in front of the Gym, waiting for clearance to go inside. The doors opened and they went into the Gym. It was dark and they heard a voice.

"Who dares to challenge the Pewter City Gym?"

"We do. I am Cloud and the idiot is Izack, we are here to challenge you for a Gym badge." Izack fumed a bit at the remark, but kept his top from exploding. So he punched Cloud in the arm.

"Who shall challenge me first?"

Cloud and Izack spoke a bit, and after a few seconds, Cloud tossed a coin. It landed on heads.

"Looks like I'm up first." Izack looked a bit ticked for bit, but shrugged it off. He went to go sit in the stands.

Flint took out a pokéball and started twirling it on his finger, he nodded to the referee to start the match. The referee nodded back and started the rules of the battle.

"This is a one on one match, because there are two challengers. This match is between the Pewter City Gym Leader, Flint, and Cloud Asher. The challenger chooses first, begin!"

Cloud took a pokéball and threw it to release Arca. Arca yipped at the prospect of battling and was shivering with excitement. They shared a brief nod and Arca was prepared to wipe the floor with whatever is sent out.

Flint sent out his Rhyhorn and it roared when it was released. It was grey and dark grey with rocky armour and had a horn right above its face.

Flint called out the first move. "Rhyhorn, use Tackle!"

Cloud smirked. "Dodge, use Iron Tail."

While the Rhyhorn was coming closer, Arca grinned and leaped over him, his tail turning metallic. He slammed his tail right down the Rhyhorn's back. Rhyhorn was heavily damaged, but wasn't going down in one hit.

"Rhyhorn, use Horn Attack!"

Rhyhorn got back up and charged at Arca with his horn glowing. Arca tried to dodge but was too slow and took a hit to his side and he flew into the air. Arca yelped and flipped to land on his feet.

"Arca, use Dig!" Arca followed Cloud's order and dug into the earth. Flint grinned at this.

"Bad move kid, Rhyhorn, Earthquake!" Rhyhorn reared up onto his hind legs and slammed them down into the earth, making it shake tremendously. A few minutes after the tremor, Arca jumped out of the earth with a metallic tail and slammed it into Rhyhorn the same spot he hit before. Rhyhorn cried out in pain and collapsed. A few seconds later, Arca did the same out of exhaustion.

The referee called the match and claimed that Cloud won because Rhyhorn collapsed first. Cloud returned Arca and whispered soothing words to the ball. Flint returned Rhyhorn and did the same. After that they met in the center of the field and Flint took out an octagon-shaped grey badge.

"Cloud, I present to you the Boulder Badge for your courage and determination in our short battle. I could tell from your eyes that you were hoping Arca survived which is why I signaled to the referee not to call the match yet. As a Gym Leader I'm proud that I did that, otherwise it would have been unfair."

Cloud smiled and nodded his appreciation, accepting the badge with glee.

"Thank you sir, it has been a fun experience."

Flint chuckled. "It's Flint, and we should battle again sometime." Cloud grinned and nodded again. He murmured his thanks and went back to Izack, who was watching the interaction with an indifferent expression.


End file.
